Research over the last decade has found that defects in so-called epigenetic control molecules may be as important a cause of cancer as direct DNA damage. Lewis Silverman, a hematologist at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine tested 5-azacytidine, the drug that would become Vidaza, in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome. The drug had been rejected by U.S. regulators for treating acute leukemia. Silverman used lower doses to reprogram the cells without killing them. Learn more